Plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a process used for the deposition of layers of various materials on a body, particularly in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and the like formed on an insulating body, such as glass or a semiconductor wafer. A plasma CVD apparatus comprises, in general, a deposition chamber, a pair of spaced electrodes with at least one of the electrodes being in the deposition chamber, and a susceptor in the deposition chamber and between the electrodes for supporting the body to be coated. The susceptor may also serve as one of the electrodes. Means are provided to achieve a flow of a deposition gas into the deposition chamber, and a power source is connected to the electrodes for providing a sufficient amount of radio frequency (rf) power to create a plasma in the deposition gas. For commercial production, plasma CVD apparatus also typically comprises means for automatically transferring the bodies being coated into the deposition chamber and onto the susceptor and for removing the coated bodies from the susceptor and the deposition chamber. The transfer means generally includes fingers for lifting the coated bodies from the susceptor. Also, the susceptor generally moves vertically upwardly to receive a body to be coated and then vertically downwardly as the fingers lift the coated body therefrom.
A problem which has been discovered in the operation of a plasma CVD apparatus is that the bodies have a tendency to stick to the susceptor. It is believed that this sticking is the result of an electrostatic charge which attaches to the body and the susceptor during the plasma deposition process. This makes it more difficult to remove the coated bodies from the susceptor without damaging the bodies. In fact, the sticking has caused the bodies to break as they are lifted off of the susceptor.